Give Your Board Games a Vacation!

Have you ever thought about making your board games take a “vacation?”

You’ll see recommendations all over the web from parenting experts (whatever those are) and mommy bloggers suggesting that you can add value and life to your children’s toys by simply putting them away for a while. They often refer to this as a toy vacation. Many of those articles will say that a vacation will prevent wear and tear on the toys and that when the toys”come home” it will be like they are brand new again.

I agree with a lot of their reasoning and I think that it applies to board games as well. There is no reason that we could not take some of our games, put them in a plastic bin or something similar, and put them out of sight for a while. These games can rest in our attic or remain hidden in our closets while we enjoy some of the other games in our collection.

Just about everyone who has caught the board game bug will have a vast collection of games lying around. We may have stumbled upon games at tag sales or thrift shops, sales on Amazon, or even a bunch of Kickstarter campaigns. The reality is that it is very easy for a game collection to get so out of control that a player might have games sit in their shrink wrap for years. Some families might have a room full of games that never sees play because of a handful of family favorites.

This is where the vacation comes in. There are really only three things to consider.

Time

You need to decide how long to leave your games in storage. You can’t just be arbitrary about it though. You need to make sure you give yourself enough time to play your other games. Take into account how often your family plays games and give yourself at least a handful of family game nights with the games out of sight.

Storage

You know your house better than I do, but it is super important that you keep the games in storage without risking damage from the elements. This means you should leave them in a sealed bin in a cool dry place as opposed to an attic, a garage, or the trunk of a car.

Play New Games!

This might seem like it goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyways. There really isn’t any point in putting your favorite games away if you aren’t going to play anything new. This is the part that will take the most discipline (especially if you have younger kids). You have to pull out those unplayed games and put the effort into punching out the pieces and learning how to play those games!

What do you think? Have you ever given your favorite board games a vacation? Sound off in the comments!

Related Post

About Stephen Duetzmann

Editor in Chief

So...who am I?

And, what makes me qualified to do this?

Well, I can tell you that I am not a web developer, or a journalist, or even a game designer. I am a Dad. I like to game. I want to game with my children. And, I have some ideas that I want to share with the world.

I'm 32 years old and I have been gaming all of my life. I'm into all kinds of games, and not just video games. Board games, tabletop games, card games and yes, even LARP games.

I've got a full time job, and I'm going back to school. I have an amazing wife and 3 wonderful children. My oldest is a 7 year old boy who is super smart and a total spazz. He's extremely excited to share his VAST (lol) video game knowledge with the world. My middle child is just learning about video games. He's 4 and he spends his time obsessing over his favorite super heroes or ponies, depending on the day. He LOVES playing games with his Daddy and big brother. My youngest is 6 months old and is learning to explore her world. She can often be found sleeping on her Daddy while I play test new games.

So, that's who I am. I'm just your typical super busy Dad who wants to share my gaming experiences with all of you.

Oh, and another thing! This website isn't all about me. I happen to have a wonderful group of friends and experts along for the ride with me. They are going to share terrific gaming information with you, too. View all posts by Stephen Duetzmann →